Former Washington Teachers' Union president Barbara A. Bullock was sentenced yesterday to nine years in prison after telling a federal judge that chronic depression led her to steal millions of dollars in teachers' dues to pay for her own furs, jewelry and designer clothes.

Bullock said she was "deeply remorseful," apologized to union members and pleaded for U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon's leniency in punishing her for embezzling $4.6 million in union funds from 1995 to 2002. She and her attorney, Stephen R. Spivack, said she had a bipolar disorder that did not justify her crimes but helped explain why she shopped compulsively for luxury goods at such stores as Neiman Marcus, Saks and Tiffany during her depressed periods.

"If I could have changed things, I would. . . . But I would have to say that I didn't know how to stop it," Bullock told the judge, her voice cracking at times. "Only with a renewed spiritual faith and medication . . . I'm now able to see how deep my depression was."

Wearing a plain brown knit dress and brown boots, the 6-foot-3 Bullock stood with shoulders slumped as Leon responded with a blistering rebuke. The judge said it was only Bullock's age -- 65 -- that dissuaded him from giving her the maximum 10 years she faced as part of her plea agreement with prosecutors. He also said that if she were 10 years younger, he would have rejected the plea agreement altogether and sought a longer prison term.

"This is a tragedy of self-destruction, a tragedy of which you were the architect," Leon said. "You so badly abused a vital institution in this city."

He ordered that Bullock serve three years in a halfway house after leaving prison and that she perform 3,000 hours of community service "as a down payment toward the incredible debt you owe this city and its teachers as a result of your heinous, fraudulent acts." He also ordered her to pay $4.6 million restitution to the union but added that it was " highly unlikely" she ever could.

Bullock will report to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons within two weeks and is likely to serve her term at a women's prison in Alderson, W.Va., authorities said. Her attorney and family members would not comment after the sentencing hearing.

She is the first person sentenced in the investigation of the union embezzlement, which came to light in mid-2002 when teachers noticed that too much money was being deducted from their paychecks for union dues. A few months later, an audit by the union's parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, concluded that nearly $5 million could not be accounted for.

The union's former executive assistant, Gwendolyn Hemphill, and its former treasurer, James O. Baxter II, were indicted in November by a grand jury on charges of participating in Bullock's scheme and enjoying the financial spoils. Three minor figures pleaded guilty last year and are believed to be cooperating with investigators: Leroy Holmes, Bullock's former chauffeur; Michael Martin, Hemphill's son-in-law; and Errol Alderman, who allegedly joined Martin in creating a phony company that aided in the scam.

About 50 of Bullock's relatives and friends, including some retired teachers, wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency, praising Bullock for her character and help over the years. One writer called Bullock's theft a "lapse in judgment." Another said she would not have become a doctor without Bullock's encouragement.

But prosecutors said that a seven-year pattern of stealing was not a lapse. They said in court papers that Bullock and other union associates "put their fortunes, reputations and liberty at risk in exchange for the immediate gratification of extra cash, meaningless baubles and adornment."

An FBI raid of Bullock's Massachusetts Avenue NW apartment in December 2002 turned up boxes upon boxes of luxury goods. There were Escada handbags, Ferragamo shoes, St. John knits, Baccarat vases, Rosendorf-Evans furs, Herend plates and a 288-piece set of Tiffany silverware. Some items were still in their packaging.

Prosecutors acknowledged after the hearing that Bullock's prison sentence was stiff for a white-collar criminal who had pleaded guilty, but they said it was justified because of the damage she did to Washington's schools. Anthony Alexis, assistant U.S. attorney, told the judge that District schools are suffering from demoralized teachers, crumbling facilities and poor test scores and that the "money shifted into Bullock's pockets" came at the expense of helping teachers get professional training and legal assistance.

Bullock's sentence is four times as long as the punishment facing Pat Tornillo, a former president of the United Teachers of Dade union in Miami. He could receive up to 21/2 years in prison after pleading guilty last summer to stealing $650,000 from union coffers for luxuries.

"This sends a message out to this city," U.S. Attorney Roscoe C. Howard Jr. said. "Those who abuse the public trust are going to do serious time."

From the time Bullock became president in 1994, the union did not perform audits every two years as required, and the American Federation of Teachers did not demand them.

The investigation begun in late 2002 revealed the contrast between Bullock's lavish personal spending and the union's bleak finances. While Bullock was making personal charges of at least $1.8 million on the union's credit card, the union had fallen behind in paying its rent and utilities.

Alexis and fellow prosecutor James Cooper told Leon in court papers that the officials who looted the union weren't acting out of desperation or ignorance. They were "people who had advantages in life, who could have channeled their energies towards productive endeavors, and -- above all -- who should have known better."